Two Common Ransomware Recovery Options and a Better Alternative

Too many people today have become familiar with an especially modern problem: Ruthless criminals have developed ways of encrypting valuable digital files and holding them for hostage. When that happens, the basic viability of a business can be at stake, with only an effective response being acceptable. There are a number of different possible ways of dealing with such ransomware, although a few of them stand out the most.

Two Common Ways of Responding to a Ransomware Infection

The most obvious answer, of course, is to simply accede to the demands made by the criminals. This will most often involve submitting a payment, usually of several hundred dollars or more, using a hard-to-trace digital currency like Bitcoin.

While this will sometimes work, success is never guaranteed, and this approach always means rewarding ransomware authors for their criminal behavior. As a result, experts generally advise that this option be chosen only as a very last resort.

One alternative that can make sense, in certain cases, is to restore affected machines from recent backups. Making use of this form of relief, of course, will require having such backups available in the first place.

It will also always be necessary to make sure to actually remove the ransomware software itself before moving forward. If that is not seen to beforehand, the backups could end up being lost, as well.

Professionals Have More Advanced Ways of Ensuring Recovery

While these are two basic options that victims often make use of themselves, working with an expert can open up other avenues for ransomware recovery. While amateurs would rarely be able to make much progress, professionals have ways of addressing ransomware problems more directly.

In some cases, for example, an experienced specialist will be able to directly decrypt the files that have been locked up by a ransomware infection. With some of the secret keys that enable decryption once ransom has been paid having been discovered, pros can sometimes put them to use on behalf of their clients.

Given these facts, seeking out help from an experienced specialist will often make quite a bit more sense than paying a ransom. Especially for those for whom recent backups are not available, this can turn out to be the best way of recovering of all.